Department Store Blasted for Releasing Pro-Rape T-Shirt

We’ve seen a lot of questionable things on t-shirts lately. First we saw this Holocaust inspired children’s t-shirt from Zara, then Urban Outfitters released a blood stained Kent University sweater that brought back memories of the 1970s shooting. Now a pro-rape t-shirt has been spotted at a department store in the Philippines. Karen Kunawicz, a popular poet & writer based in the Philippines, recently spotted the t-shirt in question at the SM Store – one of the top department stores in the Philippines for clothing, footwear, bags, accessories, toys, gadgets, and more. Yesterday, Kunawicz posted a photo of the little boy’s t-shirt on her Facebook page that said, “It’s Not Rape, It’s a Snuggle with a Struggle,” written across the front. She had this to say:

“Really SM Department Store? In the boy’s section?“It’s Not Rape, It’s A Snuggle With A Struggle?”SM–the same mall that has the daily angelus and refused to show Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd” in the cinemas? Boys listen to Tita Karen–if a girl says NO and pushes you away, just err on the side of caution, she likely means NO. And go watch “Sweeney Todd.”

The photo has since garnered over 1300 likes and 3900 shares. This is not the first time foreign-to-English translations have failed, but we don’t understand how something as offensive as this t-shirt could have slipped through the cracks. The pro-rape t-shirt has since been removed from stores and The SM Store responded to the controversy with this Facebook post:

Do you think it was right of The SM Store to pull the pro-rape t-shirt? Comment below!

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